Has your practice become just another chore? Are you just doing time?

You know you need to practice, but it just isn’t interesting. Or maybe you’re not seeing any progress, so you soldier on, getting more frustrated by the day. Or maybe you don’t know what to do in your practice, so you play a few things through and call it done.

I have news for you. Practice may be a daily...

Have you ever thought about a simple soap bubble?

It’s a beautiful and amazing creation, air trapped in layers of soap film, a fragile phenomenon combining surface tension and elasticity.I always enjoyed playing with bubble wands, seeing how big I could make the bubbles and how long they would last. How hard it is to keep that bubble from breaking!

“Living in a bubble” is a...

Concert at the Paris Conservatory, 1843

The music conservatory: a hothouse for nurturing musical talent and an opportunity available to only the select few. For hundreds of years these elite music schools have trained world-class musicians and the tradition continues. The focused atmosphere and the access to instruction from the finest teachers and performers make a conservatory education the...

Is bass clef slowing you down? It’s something of a mystery to me why bass clef should present a stumbling block to harpists who read treble clef perfectly well.

Perhaps we just put more effort into learning (and teaching!) treble clef and figure that bass clef will get better over time. Or maybe we are so eager to play more music that we don’t spend quite enough time on all the...

I don’t like starting a blog post with such a negative title, but I might as well admit it; sometimes we have to play music we just don’t like. You can probably instantly bring to mind that one piece of music you really can’t stand. Maybe it’s a holiday carol you’ve heard in too many shopping malls or maybe it’s just a piece that is definitely not your...

It’s Sunday night, and I’m watching football, fingers crossed for the success of my Philadelphia Eagles.And then it hits me.May be music and football have more in common than I thought…

1. “Football” doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone, just ask a Brit who thinks it should be played with a round ball and a goalkeeper. Music isn’t just one thing...

Scales aren't just about technique.

Scales happen in "real" music too, and when we need to play them, we want them to be expressive, fluid and musical.

In this video, I demonstrate seven steps you can use to make your scales more beautiful in anything you play. And I have prepared a handy reference checklist for you as well. Just click on the link, enter your email address and it will be on...

Practice, practice, practice; the story of the musician’s life. And we hope that by devoting many hours to practice, we will be able to perform when it counts. But we should be able to do more than just hope.

Preparing for performance, whether it’s a lesson or a recital, is a matter of practicing in three very different ways, and these three vignettes about a kick, an arrow and a...

Blog Harp in the Mountains 2018! About Anne Resources Contact MY HARP MASTERY Where is Music Leading You? POSTED ON OCTOBER 19, 2015 BY ANNE Vecchio portone con batacchi leoniniDo you think you know where music is leading you? Is it to a career, a fulfilling avocation, or a rewarding way to connect with other people? Or are you approaching one of those places where you’re not sure what...

Professional musicians exude a confidence that is the envy of many aspiring music students. They seem unflustered and calm,not burdened with nerves or uncertainty. How did they get to that level of security? And how can you get even a little bit of that for yourself?

The secret to that confidence is easy to identify; it’s experience. Whatever it is, whatever sort of performance, whatever...